welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm ben bland. our top stories: four israeli soldiers are killed after a lorry is driven into them injerusalem. the palestinian driver is shot dead. the former iranian president, akbar hashemi rafsanjani, one of the country's most influential moderates, dies at the age of 82. snow and sub—zero temperatures lead to deaths across europe, from poland to italy and the greek islands. music plays the musical la la land sweeps the board at the golden globes awards ceremony in los angeles. hello. the funerals are due be held in israel later today for four soldiers killed by a palestinian

attacker who drove a lorry into a crowd injerusalem. 17 others were injured before the driver was shot dead. the israeli government has said he was inspired by the islamic state group and by similar attacks in berlin and nice. this report from yolande knell contains images you may find distressing. a hazy view ofjerusalem. this is what israeli soldiers on a training course had come to see. security camera footage shows two groups. the one in the background hasjust got off a coach when this happens. look at the top left of the screen. the lorry drives at the soldiers at high speed and hits them. then it backs up quickly, apparently trying to crush more people before the driver is shot dead. he is said to have been a palestinian from a nearby area of eastjerusalem.

witnesses who saw the bloody aftermath spoke of their shock. i just saw the truck going from the road onto the sidewalk. it took some time to understand it was a terror attack. those who died were all in their 20s. more than a dozen others were wounded. you can still see the skidmarks in the dirt here. this is the very spot where those soldiers were killed. there has been an upsurge in palestinian attacks on israelis in the past year or so but this is one of the deadliest there has been and the use of a lorry is also something unusual. visiting the scene, the prime minister said this was similar to recent attacks in europe and it could have been inspired by the so—called islamic state. translation: we know the identity of the attacker. according to all the signs he was a supporter of the islamic state. we know there has been a series of terror attacks. there definitely could be a connection between them, from france to berlin and nowjerusalem. israel has blamed previous attacks

on incitement by palestinian officials and social media. palestinian leaders say they have been driven by anger after more than 20 years of on—and—off peace talks have failed to deliver an independent palestinian state. earlier, yuval steinitz, a member of israel's security cabinet, gave us more details about the attacker. this is a young citizen from jerusalem. we know with confidence that he was inspired by isis and saw himself as a messenger of the islamic idea of isis. of course, he was incited, like most palestinians from children, by the education system of the palestinian authority. well, i'm not going to provide you with any details. i will assume we will publish them later on but it's not an assumption. we know with confidence that this man, in the last several months,

was inspired by isis, identified himself with isis. this is crystal clear for us. unfortunately, what we see today, notjust here in the middle east and in israel, but and the entire world, in europe, the people that are inspired by isis, al-qaeda, hamas or islamichhad, are driving trucks into the crowds in berlin, in nice, unfortunately, today, injerusalem. the general idea is very similar. it's not just againstjews and thejewish state, it's against christians, the yazidis, against those infidels who are not muslims all over the world. of course, one of the main targets is to eliminate thejewish state. we are taking many measures. unfortunately, we are very experienced with fighting terrorism. i can tell you that although many times it is lone wolves, in most cases we are able to intercept them. unfortunately, we don't have 100% success and what we saw

today is of course the sad reality that we have to live with. you know, for us, it's not just extremely sad but also extremely frustrating. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, has led tributes to the former president, akbar hashemi rafsanjani, who has died aged 82. the conservative ayatollah described his more moderate long—time friend as a companion of struggle, despite their differences. catrina renton reports. people come to pay their respects to the former president who died on sunday evening. his sons and brother leading the mourners. a television broadcaster broke into programmes to bring the news. ayatollah ali akbar hashemi rafsanjani was a dominant figure in iran's politics, particularly in the 1980s and ‘90s. he was born in 193a in south—eastern iran. he studied theology

in the holy city of qom with ayatollah ruhollah khomeini and played a key role in the revolution in 1979. in the last year of the 1980—88 war with iraq, he was appointed acting commander in chief of the armed forces and was seen as the main mover behind iran's acceptance of the un security council resolution that ended the conflict. he had been a close confidant of iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei but his political allegiances later shifted towards reform ists and he tried to run for president again in 2005 but lost out to mahmoud ahmadinejad. he tempted to stand in 2013 but his candidacy was rejected and he has been a mentor to the current president hassan rouhani ever since. he was a centralfigure in iranian politics for at least a decade and a half, certainly in the 1980s, he was widely recognised as being number two to ayatollah khomeini. he also played a big role in facilitating the rise to power of the current leader, ayatollah khamenei.

the two enjoyed a very uneasy equilibrium, balance of power, for four of five years before the tensions got too high and the differences between the two men became too great. leading tributes, ayatollah khamenei said... mourners gathered in the hospital in tehran where mr rafsanjani was treated. translation: i am here to pay my respects to him. i can't talk through my tears. translation: i am very sad. i got the news through social media. i was going to go home but i decided to come here and be with the people. there will now be three days of national mourning in iran. ayatollah akbar hashemi rafsanjani will be buried on tuesday. catriona renton, bbc news.

in other news: the british foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has met key advisors to the us president—elect, donald trump, on an unannounced visit to new york. officials described their three—hour discussions as "positive but frank." it's understood they discussed us policy towards syria, china and russia. mrjohnson will hold talks with senior congress figures in washington later on monday. the french defence minister has revealed that 2a,000 cyber attacks against french defence targets were prevented last year. jean—yves le drian said such attacks were doubling in number every year. he warned that france's infrastructure was at risk and that some people could try to interfere with the elections in may. the nigerian president muhammadu buhari says he's hopeful the remaining 195 schoolgirls

captured from the town of chibok will be rescued. the islamist militant group boko haram drew international media attention when they seized the girls in april 2014. more than 20 have been rescued or found since then, including one last week. the entertainment industry is celebrating the best of film and televison at the golden globe awards in los angeles. the film la la land, a nostalgic tribute to hollywood musicals, has won a string of prizes, including best movie, musical or comedy, best score, best original song and best director for damien chazelle. its co—stars ryan gosling and emma stone were the best actor and actress in a comedy or musical. let's talk to our correspondent peter bowes who's in our studio in los angeles. i suppose the pressure was on for la

la land to do well and it has lived up la land to do well and it has lived up to expectation. it has, it has swept the board, winning seven in the categories it was nominated in, and very few films managed to do that at this stage of the awards season, and i think damien chazelle must be looking forward to the 0scars, with a chance i think of doing what few first—time directors managed to do on his first big outing, it is quite an achievement. this harks back to the golden days of hollywood, it is made with the backdrop of modern—day la, this extraordinary scene with everyone leaping out of their cars, over a freeware, bursting into song, it is the modern—day musical. freeware, bursting into song, it is the modern-day musical. and the brits have done well, haven't they? they have had a good night as well,

haven't they? unfortunately, we seem to have lost the link to peter, but those awards i was referring to, various british actors including tom hiddleston winning awards for the night manager, which also picked up an award at the ceremony in la. they also, during the ceremony, paid tribute to carrie fisher and debbie reynolds. quite unusual because the ceremony often doesn't have a memorial section, but of course 2016 was a year when hollywood lost many of its stars, most it usually carrie fisher and debbie reynolds they wa nted fisher and debbie reynolds they wanted to pay tribute, and ectopic trending from the ceremony is meryl streep's speech, currently one of

the top trends online. more than 20 people have now died because of bitterly cold weather in much of central and eastern europe during the weekend. temperatures have plunged as low as —30 celsius with snow covering the continent as far south as turkey and the greek islands. christian fraser reports. rarely does the icy grip of the arctic circle reach as deep into europe as it has this weekend. the snow has even fallen on the mediterranean beaches of the greek islands. in the dolomites, the temperatures plunged to —23 celsius overnight. this is amatrice, central italy, the hilltop town that was worst hit by the summer's earthquake. the ongoing efforts to secure what remains of the village now severely hampered. in rome, the pope prayed for the city's homeless. speaks italian it was so cold the waters had frozen in the fountains of st peter's square.

in istanbul, they have had three straight days of snowfall. turkish airlines said they had grounded over 600 flights. it's all down to winds coming out of the arctic and punching south towards the mediterranean. a real icy chill to them, sub—zero temperatures, plenty of snow. that's what's added to fairly brutal winter weather. at risk are the thousands of refugees still crossing europe on foot. three died in the mountains in bulgaria. in belgrade, several hundred took shelter in this customs warehouse. not much protection. this weekend, russia celebrated 0rthodox christmas. the coldest in 120 years, —30 in moscow. but then, they are used to it. around 500 people, perhaps with just one extra layer, set off for a five mile bike ride along the moscow river. so far, the uk has escaped but forecasters say there won't be as much snow

as in europe but the arctic winds could well send temperatures below those of iceland and sweden. commuters in london are facing severe disruption after underground staff launched a 24—hour strike over job losses. the majority of stations within central london are shut, putting pressure on the city's bus and rail services. passengers make around 4.8 million trips on the tube network every day. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the queen attends church at sandringham, her first public appearance since recovering from a heavy cold. the japanese people are in mourning, following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects

when it was announced he was dead. good grief. after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. the latest headlines: a truck has rammed into a group of israeli soldiers, killing four of them and injuring seventeen others. iran's supreme leader,

ayatollah khamenei, has led tributes to the influential former president, akbar hashemi rafsanjani, who has died at the age of 82. more now on that story. earlier i spoke to trita parsi, the president of the national iranian american council about akbar rafsa njani's political legacy. he remained highly influential and i think the last time that we really saw his fingerprints very clearly that showed his influence was in 2013 during the presidential elections. he was first cabinet but he was rejected which is caused major scandal inside iraq. he then played a critical role together with the former president in unifying the various reformist movements behind him and convincing the population that they should go out and vote and

that they should go out and vote and that this time their votes would be counted, unlike in 2009 full it was precisely because of that voter turnout that the prime minister won in the first round. do you think that his death will be something that his death will be something that harms the moderate movement in the upcoming elections or do you think it will galvanise energy and focus among them? it certainly could galvanise them. we could see a bump for the moderates in the next elections which is a couple of months away. in the long run, however, i think it will be a significant void because at the end of the day, rafsanjani was more less untouchable in that he could say things, he could challenge taboos within the iranian system without paying a price for it in a way that almost no—one else could. reformists and moderates currently do not have and moderates currently do not have a person of that stature who can challenge conservative restrictions.

you mentioned the role he played. very crucially as head of the expediency council he was a mediating figure between the parliament and the guiding council when they were perhaps not seen eye to eye. there was a form of rule that he had in the expediency council. he tried to be a king made carand a council. he tried to be a king made car and a mediating falls between various factions inside the country. —— tried to be a kingmaker. and that is exactly how iran has survived because very few people have survived a harsh political atmosphere as long as he has. and on foreign policy, he is quite noteworthy. throughout his career he co nsta ntly noteworthy. throughout his career he constantly tried to find ways to see if tensions with the west could be reduced. back in the 1980s when the us and iran negotiated in secret

which ended up becoming the contra scandal. he was on the iranian side, driving that process. iraqi special forces have reached the banks of the river tigris which runs through muscle. it is almost three months since they launched the result. the advance of the latest gain by counterterrorism troops who have reca ptu red counterterrorism troops who have recaptured two districts in recent days. we are told it is an important move. extremely significant. it shows that iraqi forces are seizing the initiative now. there has been a lull, if you like in military operations started back in october ata time operations started back in october at a time there was hope that the iraqi army would be able to retake muscle fairly quickly. aided by airstrikes from the united states and now is. however, things have not gone according to plan. the islamic

state fighters have been using a hit—and—run tactics to slow down the advance army and the iraqi army at some stage seemed to be logged down in the skirmishes around the city. the british prime minister, theresa may, has suggested that the uk will leave the single market when it leaves the european union. in a television interview, she insisted that britain klim 0ur political correspondent, carole walker, reports. after six months in power, the prime minister has begun to signal what she wants from the brexit negotiations. brexit means brexit. she knows that no longer satisfies anyone. theresa may denies muddled thinking, saying britain would take back control of its borders and appeared to hint that would mean leaving the single market. people talk in terms as if somehow we are leaving the eu but we still want to keep bits of membership. we are leaving, we are coming out, we will not be a member of the eu any longer. the question is, what is the right relationship for the uk to have with the european union when we are outside?

though campaigners on both sides of the brexit argument took that as a clear signal we will leave the single market, labour are not satisfied. she had one question put to her three times and still didn't answer it, which is, are you prioritising immigration over access to the single market? that was the question she did not want to answer. i think now, 10—11 weeks from the triggering of article 50 and the most important negotiations for a generation, we need more clarity than that and we don't have it. but nicola sturgeon warned any move to take scotland out of the single market as part of the uk could trigger a second referendum on independence. they will be making a big mistake if they think i am bluffing. we have to ask ourselves in scotland, are we happy to have the direction of our country, the kind of country we want to be, determined by a right—wing conservative government, perhaps for the next 20 years, or do we want to take control of our own future? theresa may does not want her entire

time in downing street defined by brexit. and she stressed that referendum vote was a demand for wider change to the way the country is run, so she is promising a programme of social reform which she says will help notjust the poorest, but every level of society. it is about dealing everyday injustices, but also about recognising our obligations as citizens within the communities and the society we have here in the uk. it is about recognising that there is a role for government, but government needs to ensure it is acting as effectively as possible in those areas where it should be taking action. she says her government will tackle the housing crisis, fix broken markets and change attitudes to mental health. the prime minister's language is ambitious, she will be judged on whether her policies deliver the changes she is promising. queen elizabeth has appeared in public for the first time in several weeks — attending a church service at sandringham in eastern england,

where the royal family traditionally spends the christmas holiday. this report by our royal correspondent daniela relph contains flash photography. it had been a much anticipated arrival. driven in a state bentley, it was the first time the queen was seen in public since arriving on the sandringham estate before christmas. cheered as she emerged from the car, she arrived just before 11am for the church service, accompanied by the duke of edinburgh. she had missed church on christmas and new year's day due to a heavy, lingering cold. those who waited were pleased to see her. we saw her very close up and she looked a little bit frail, to be honest, but it is nice to see her. it was really exciting! when you see her you get a little buzz. it is good to know she was coming. she looked bright in the car and that was quite nice, really. the queen's speech, recorded a couple of weeks before christmas day, was one of the last times the monarch had been seen.

she also carried out an investiture in early december. over the past three weeks she has been laid low. as a precaution, she was advised to stay inside and rest to help her recovery. the queen's attendance at church is a sign she is feeling much better. her appearance today will ease the inevitable concern and speculation that arose during her absence from church over previous weeks. after church, the queen was driven back to the main house on the estate. she will remain in norfolk until next month. letters have a look at some of the winners of the globe golden globes ceremony in los angeles. one film,

la la land has won in all seven categories it was nominated in. lead actor, actress and director won. hugh laurie and tom hiddleston won awards for their role in the tv drama the night manager. i hope you enjoyed the weekend. for many it has been grey and murky. we have some wind this week to stir things up, so i hope you have sunshine. but there'll be colder air later on this week, where some of us could see a bit of the white stuff. we have a cold front pushing into the north—western parts of the uk at the moment. the air behind that isn't desperately chilly, but the front itself will bring heavy burst of rain through scotland and northern ireland. behind that showers beginning to turn wintry at breakfast time and a strong, cold wind. some sunshine in between.

this band of heavy rain, with squally winds, heading into north—western parts of england and wales at breakfast time. ahead of that it is still dry and still a bit of fog over high ground. the winds are still light. that will clear as winds freshen. the rain will then push in from the north—west. some wet weather arriving later in the day across southern and eastern areas. further north and west it brightens up. showers again heavy in northern ireland, scotland. wintry over high ground. 4—6 degrees. but ahead of that, nine, possibly 10. the rain will clear overnight and then we have brisk west or north—westerly winds. chilly, but not desperately cold. there could be some frost around, but not too widespread or too sharp. then towards tuesday, we start to see things clouding up from the north—west.

so limited brightness. the best of that in north—eastern areas. some showery bursts coming in off the atlantic. but because it's coming in from the west, temperatures if anything will start to pick up again. 9—10, a milderfeel late on tuesday. that mild theme continues into wednesday, where temperatures could get up to 11—12 in the south—east, but only briefly. cold air returns from the north with a vengeance and from midweek onwards temperatures will fall sharply. a shock to the system for many after what's been a relatively mild winter so far. the showers will turn increasingly wintry, notjust over high ground but down to lower levels. snow could cause issues in some places. rain along the south coast perhaps for a time. but the arctic air wins out as we end the week. cold, northerly winds flooding down and although we have some sunshine it will feel very cold in the wind and further wintry showers are expected. the latest headlines from bbc news.

i'm ben bland. the israeli prime minister has described an attack on a crowd of israeli soldiers injerusalem, which killed four soldiers as a terrorist attack. the driver of the truck was shot dead. police say he was a palestinian from the east of the city. benjamin netanyahu linked the attack to the islamic state militant group. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, has led tributes to the former president, akbar hashemi rafsanjani, who has died aged 82. the conservative ayatollah described his long—time more moderate friend as a companion of struggle, despite their differences. blizzards and dangerously low temperatures are continuing to cause problems across much of central and eastern europe, where 23 people have died in recent days. dozens of villages in serbia and bulgaria are without power and water. snow has even fallen in the greek islands. it is just

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